Gossip Girl Season 6 Premiere Review/Recap [Spoilers]

Becky Brinkerhoff ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff

This premiere certainly had no lack of drama; however, are the avid fans simply reliving past plot twists?
The final season of Gossip Girl starts off right by relieving the tension between Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) and Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) after a season of abstinence… from each other at least. The screen then flashes to Dan Humphrey (Penn Bagdley) and Georgina Sparks (Michelle Trachtenberg) waltzing down the streets of Rome, where Dan is taking writing workshops, discussing his new tell all book about the Upper East Side, not under the masquerade of fiction this time around. During this discussion, Blair calls Dan and is shocked to find Georgina answering the phone. Nevertheless, she explains to Georgina that Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) has gone missing and she needs Dan’s help to find her. Georgina, hoping to find Serena in a drug induced coma or in a mental institution, convinces Dan to leave his writing workshops in Rome to find Serena before Blair. She claims that whatever dismal state he finds Serena in will be a wonderful ending to his book.
Meanwhile, back in Manhattan, Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford) begins to search for her daughter Serena, even though she has been missing all summer. She attempts to enlist the help of her recent ex-husband Rufus Humphrey (Matthew Settle), however when she arrives at his loft she is shocked to find the family foe, Ivy Dinkens (Kaylee DeFer), has been living in his apartment since the divorce. Rufus states that it was merely out of concern for her penniless state and Ivy agrees. Nevertheless, Lily storms out under the impression that Rufus has weeded his way into Ivy’s life—in more ways than one.
Chuck, during a casual trip to Dubai to dig further in to his father’s fake death, finds that his recently reappearing father was hiding more than just his livelihood (as if there needed to be more secrets in that relationship). Chuck finds his father’s former interpreter and decides to take the curve stricken hottie back to Manhattan to use as leverage against his father, Bart Bass (Robert John Burke). Why does he need leverage? On Bart’s reappearance, he took back all the shares of Bass Enterprises that his death had left to Chuck. Nothing like a share scandal to say welcome back to the family.
In typical gossip girl fashion, the entire gang (Nate, Chuck, Blair, Dan, and Georgina) end up at the same location: a lavish house in the middle of nowhere New York State in a Serena induced chase. When they enter the house they find a wedding in progress and Serena in a white dress clinging onto a handsome new man. After a quick conversation with Serena, who apparently is now going by Sabrina, they decide that this has to be her wedding. Could this be the ultimate plot twist? Blair and Georgina rush to stop the wedding and expose Serena; however, they find out that they were utterly wrong. Serena was merely the maid of honor of one of the two gay grooms. Now, Serena wants nothing to do with any of them. Oops.
After the wedding escapade, Blair and Chuck sit closely in the back of a limo. Blair begins to mention the last time they were in the back of a limo together, alone. Chuck politely declines, after teasing the fans more by moving his hand along her neck, by saying that this time around he was going to do the right thing for the relationship. He says that he cannot be with her until he wins his company back from his father, eloquently stating that Blair is a distraction that he would give up his whole world for. He asks the driver to pull over and before he exits the limo, he picks up the ring Blair is wearing on her necklace: the Harry Winston diamond he was going to propose her with in season three. He says something along the lines of remember our promise and leaves. The screen then flashes to Nate in his office being asked out to drinks by a reporter from a local newspaper and he accepts. The last scene in this drama-packed premiere is of Dan walking in on his father entangled in Ivy.
It seems that these glamorous Upper East Side residents have come full circle. Serena disappearing and wanting to reinvent herself while harboring hate for Blair. Chuck and Bart fighting. Chuck and Blair stuck in a cycle of longing. There are some elements that can be reused (the insinuating wit, clever lines, innuendo, sexual tension), but plot is no’t really one of them. I can’t help but wonder if this reuse of plot is due to a lack of inspiration on the writer’s part or if they are feeling sentimental about the final season. Either way, they’d have to throw in a hell of a lot more plot twists to shock an avid fan like me. Of course, I’d be happy to see an entire season of Chuck and Blair dancing around each other, which is a plot all Gossip Girl fans know well.
All that to say, true fans are with it to the end. Gossip Girl never ceases to supply me with clever writing and opportunities to yell at the TV screen. They set up this season with blasts from the past; let’s see if they can bring in some new twists by the end.